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How Dads Can Bond With Their Children

September 1, 2023 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

Every family is different, that’s what makes them so special. But they all have one thing in common, parents should always try to have a close bond with their children. It doesn’t matter whether you have biological children, step-children, adopted children, or foster children, it’s up to you to make that connection.

Parent-child bonding is beneficial to everyone involved, but especially your kids. Your children need to feel safe and loved to thrive. Growing up isn’t easy, and in some ways, it’s even more difficult than it used to be.

Your children need to know that you’ll be there for them, and the only way they can know that is if you prove it.

Give Them Time

Yes, you’re busy. Everyone is busy. But people give their time to the things that matter most to you. Think about how you spend the hours of your day and what that proves to your children and your family.

Most parents spend a lot of their time at work, which is a necessary part of providing for your family. But do your children understand where you are and what you’re doing? Do they still feel like a priority in your life, or are they always put aside because Daddy has to work or Daddy is tired from work?

If you’re short on time and energy, make sure that you get quality, one-on-one time with your children. Make a schedule for your day and, as well as work and the other necessary things in life, schedule in time with your child every day. Even if it’s just half an hour of dedicated time, it’s far better than nothing.

As well as this daily slot of time, make sure that you spend weekends and free time with your children. Yes, it’s important to have time for yourself so you don’t burn out, but try to make sure that they are still prioritized.

After all, time is precious. Children don’t stay children forever.

Have Fun With Your Kids

So, what to do with all this time? Well, that’s up to you and your family. After all, every family is different.

But the important thing is to try to have fun with your kids. Introduce them to your hobbies and be willing to get involved in the things they love. This can mean curling up on the sofa and watching the best police movies, playing their favorite video games, or going for walks and playing sports.

Plan these fun times with your children, so they look forward to spending time with you.

Parental Responsibility

While having fun with your kids is, well, fun and valuable for building relationships, it isn’t the only responsibility you have as a parent.

One of the most important things a parent can do for their child is discipline them. Discipline doesn’t just mean to punish your kids when they’re misbehaving. The word actually means to teach or train your children.

Teaching can involve punishment, but most of the time, teaching is something else. You need to teach your children how to be responsible and how to be successful adults. You shouldn’t only discipline your children when you’re angry with them, as this can lead to lashing out.

How Dads Can Connect with Foster Children

August 21, 2023 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

Connecting with foster children is essential to making them feel safe and starting to enjoy your life together. If you are a working dad, you might worry about how to connect if you are out working a lot of the time, and the bulk of the day-to-day parenting falls to your partner. But it doesn’t have to be complicated. Here are some tips to help dads connect with their foster children.

Learn as Much as You Can

Agencies like orangegrovefostercare.co.uk have plenty of useful resources, but reading articles, getting tips and advice, and taking part in foster care training will help you be prepared for anything. This can increase your confidence as a foster carer and bring down some of the walls you might have put up. Being prepared and learning as much as possible will make it easier to bond and connect, whether you are a stay-at-home parent or going out to work.

Be Patient

You are unlikely to feel an instant bond with a child in your care. It will take them time to settle, and they’ll need to be comfortable before they open up to you. The process will be different with every child you care for. Be patient, don’t try to force a connection, and don’t worry if sometimes it takes longer than others.

Prepare for Bumps in the Road

Your journey with a child in your care will rarely be a straight line. Some days you might feel like you’ve got a strong bond and enjoy each other’s company. Some days it will feel like they’ve put walls up, and you’ve taken a step backwards. Reassure yourself that these bumps are normal, and they will pass.

Take on Responsibilities

If you go out to work, your partner will have many of the parenting responsibilities. But taking on as many as you can, and sharing important things like meetings and appointments, will let your foster child know that you are part of the team, have their best interests at heart, and will be there for them. Some responsibilities you could take on include bedtime, reading, and bath time.

Teach Life Skills

Teaching life skills is a fantastic way to spend time together and add something useful to their time with you. Things like baking, DIY, swimming, and for younger children, smaller skills like tying shoelaces can be skills that they’ll always associate with you.

Enjoy Some Fun Dad Time

Remember, not everything has to be a learning activity. Family time is great, but if you can, spending a little time one-on-one and having things just for the two of you can help you build a strong connection. Kicking a ball in the park on Sunday mornings or riding a bike are good ideas.

Start a Project

A project is a fantastic way to bond, spend time together, teach skills, create memories, and really connect in a fun way. Projects could include growing vegetables, building a birdhouse, or creating a scrapbook.

Talk About Feelings

Don’t be scared to tell them how you feel about them or talk about your general feelings. Show them that it’s ok to be emotional.

Connecting with a foster child can be tricky and take time, but you’ll start feeling fantastic when you do.

4 Ways Dads Can Bond with Their Foster Daughters

October 26, 2022 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

When a newborn enters the family, it can often seem easier for the mother to quickly develop a deeper bond than the father. Thankfully, there are many books and resources that teach fathers how to bond with their infant daughters. If you’re going to be fostering adolescent children, however, this is a very different prospect. Adolescents have already developed a personality and some likes and dislikes. Forming a deeper connection with your foster daughter that’s a bit older needs a gentle approach and a lot of patience. Here are a few ways that dads can bond with their foster daughters.

Just Be Available

One of the most important roles a father can have when it comes to their kids is to be reliable and available to their daughter when they’re needed. When you take on the responsibility of becoming a foster parent with an agency like Fostering People, you need to be prepared for this. Being available just simply means being present and being approachable for a chat or for a quick lift to a friend or the local shopping mall.

Learn as Much as You Can

Men and women, for the most part, think and process things differently. Learning and understanding a bit more about how your daughter might think and interpret things around her is critical. Not only will you better understand how she’s likely to react to things, but you’ll also be in a better position to give her the right advice and communicate in a more meaningful way. It’s all about learning as much as you can about your foster daughter, and about raising girls in general.

Respect Is Earned and Demonstrated

When you become a foster dad, you’re going to be taking on the most important job of your life. You’re going to become the male role model in your foster daughter’s life, and that means she’ll look to you for cues on how she expects the men in her life to behave. The most important thing for you here is to demonstrate how women should be treated by showing your partner patience, respect, love and care.

Be a Good Listener and Provide Advice

As a father, you’re going to be relied on to provide advice and guidance to your daughter when she needs it. Understanding this and understanding when to provide that advice and when to just listen is important. Men tend to want to fix things and find solutions to things, but often that’s not what your daughter will need from you. Often all she wants is to feel loved, heard and understood. If she wants advice, she’ll likely directly ask for it, so be ready to dispense it.

Bonding with your foster daughter as a foster dad can be challenging, but it is also one of the most rewarding things in the world. Being a strong provider and nurturer, as well as being a positive male role model in her life is incredibly important. Above all, patience and understanding will be your two most important skills.

Creating A Perfect Environment For A Foster Child

October 28, 2021 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

Making the decision to foster a child is a major undertaking. It will create a shift in your current family life while at the same time present a new situation for the child entering your life, which will be tricky at times for everyone involved. One of the best things that you can do before your foster child moves into your home is take certain steps towards creating the right environment for them.

When your foster child comes home, you want them to feel comfortable and welcome. They will understandably find themselves a bit unsettled, but the right environment can help to alleviate a great deal of stress and nerves that they would otherwise experience when undergoing such a change.

Depending on the age of the child you are fostering, there are certain things that you can do to make sure that the environment that they are walking into is as perfect as can be. You want to take their personal tastes and interests into account as well, so that they can feel at ease and excited about this change in their life.

If you are looking to prepare your home for a foster child, here are a few other tips that can help you to create a perfect environment for them.

Talk to the Experts

The first thing that you should look to do when you are trying to create the perfect environment for your future foster child is have a conversation with an expert. There are plenty of resources out there for parents looking to foster that you can access. These resources can help you to understand more about what you are taking on and what you can do to help your future foster child feel more at home with you.

There are resources available from organizations that help connect foster children with families like thefca.co.uk as well as others from third-party organizations. Make sure to do your homework and acquire as much information as possible about what you can do to help prepare your home for your new foster child.

Give Them Their Own Space

When bringing a foster child into your home, it can be tempting to be a bit overbearing and try to force a connection with them. While some children will take to their new home life with a bit more acceptance and ease, it is more likely that your foster child will need a bit of space in order to feel at home.

This involves giving them the emotional space they need to adjust in their own time as well as the physical space in your home that they can call their own. Creating a specific space in your home just for them will provide your foster child with a place where they feel at ease and comfortable.

While checking in with them is essential and keeping the lines of communication open, giving your foster child some space to acclimate to their new life is an incredibly important part of the process.